Hillside school board president wins mayoral runoff election

Hillside school board president Dahlia Vertreese will become the next mayor of Hillside after beating her opponent, former councilman Jorge A. Batista.

"I'm extremely humbled and grateful. It's not a title grabber for me. I really want to work for my people. I'm one of the few candidates that invested in this working class community," Vertreese said.

"Any mistakes that I make, and there will be some, you will know that it's not coming out of greed, malice or some wacky political agenda," Vertreese said. "It would be made truly trying to do the best for people of Hillside."

Vertreese defeated Batista unofficially 1,739 to 1,711, according to Hillside's Clerk Lorraine Messiah. The runoff was held Tuesday.

A total of 24 provisional ballots must still be counted, according to Dennis Kobitz, administrator of the Union County Board of Elections. However, Vertreese is winning by a 28-vote margin, so even if all 24 votes were for Batista, he would not have enough votes to win.

Vertreese was officially declared the mayor-elect Wednesday at 11 a.m., when the last of the provisional votes are certified.

"I would have preferred to win, but the people have made their choice and I wish them the best over the next four years," said Batista.

The candidates had to participate in a runoff due because none of the four original candidates received more than half of the vote on Nov. 7.

All three of Vertreese's runningmates for city council also won the three open at-large seats. They are George Cook III (1,768 votes) , Nancy Mondella (1,715 votes) and Craig Epps (1,702 votes), according to the unofficial tally from Hillside's clerk.

Serving as the mayor of Hillside, a township of about 21,404 people, is a part-time job that pays $10,000 per year.

Hillside's current mayor, Angela Garretson, won a Union County freeholder seat on Nov. 7.